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Lya Lys (18 May 1908 – 2 June 1986), was a German-born Jewish-American actress of French-Russian decent who had a brief career in Hollywood. Nathalie Margoulis was born in Berlin to a Russian banker and French pediatrician who moved to Paris when she was around seven. Her father's name is not known here, her mother, Ina (née Blumenfeld) Löscht, later served at a French field hospital during the early months of World War II. Her fate during or after the German invasion is unclear. Nathalie was educated in France and Switzerland and later studied language at the Sorbonne. In the late... MORE

Lya Lys (18 May 1908 – 2 June 1986), was a German-born Jewish-American actress of French-Russian decent who had a brief career in Hollywood. Nathalie Margoulis was born in Berlin to a Russian banker and French pediatrician who moved to Paris when she was around seven. Her father's name is not known here, her mother, Ina (née Blumenfeld) Löscht, later served at a French field hospital during the early months of World War II. Her fate during or after the German invasion is unclear. Nathalie was educated in France and Switzerland and later studied language at the Sorbonne. In the late 1920s Lya Lys was among a group of French actors that included Charles Boyer, André Berley and Mona Goya who were brought to Hollywood by MGM to work on films intended for the French market. Reportedly, after her contract expired, Lys received a Hollywood movie offer just as she was about to board an ocean liner to return to Europe. The captain was kind enough to delay departure until her luggage could be retrieved. Before coming to America Lys starred in Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's surrealistic film, L'Age d'Or (1930); considered by many as her most memorable performance. In 1931 she married LESS